


From Herald to Lethallan

by MELife



Series: Inquisition: The Stories of Lavellan [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Minor Violence, Sexy observations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7889653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MELife/pseuds/MELife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various Solas and Lavellan moments from chit-chat in Haven to battle badassness to oh so close smexy touching all to bag some mercenaries and close a rift in the Hinterlands. No smut... Yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Herald to Lethallan

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of the dialogue I put in from the game are put in at different moments to move the story. :)

“Is this why you joined the inquisition?” Lavellan asked as she leaned against a barrel.

“I joined the inquisition because we were all in terrible danger,” Solas said, giving her a matter-of-fact look. “If our enemies destroy the world, I would have nowhere to lay my head while dreaming of the fade.”

“Ah,” Lavellan said in response.

“Yet that is why I joined, not why I stayed,” Solas added.

She nodded out of understanding. “Well, I wish you luck,” she said pushing off the barrel.

“Thank you,” he nodded, “in truth, I have enjoyed experiencing more of life to find more of the fade.”

Lavellan, first being resigned to leave, paused and gave him a curious look. “How so,” she inquired.

“You train your will to control magic and withstand possession. Your indomitable focus is an enjoyable side effect.” This made Lavellan’s eyebrows raise the slightest bit, wondering if some implications of his statement were on purpose. “You have chosen a path whose steps you do not dislike because it leads to a destination you enjoy, as have I.”

This time her eyebrow arched in question as she folded her arms. “Indomitable focus?”

“Presumably,” he said, suddenly meeting her gaze, “I have yet to see it dominated…” His eyes briefly regarded her full appearance. “I imagine that the sight would be… fascinating.”

Lavellan gave a small chuckle, “Perhaps.” She said, “I suppose we shall see when the time comes.” This seemed to make him pause as he stared at her with mixture of expressions that were beyond Lavellan’s capability to read. “Well then,” she said breaking the momentary silence, “we’ll talk later.”

“Indeed.” Was all he said as she took her leave.

The herald’s thoughts lingered on the conversation as she walked through Haven. Solas was perplexing to say the least, he was not easily stirred from his talks of the fade or history, nor did he seem easy to please. Yet, he had given her a compliment laced in teasing, and that had caught her… off guard.

“Ser,” a scout had said to gain her attention, “Cullen has reported in.”

Lavellan nodded and made her way to the war table. Once there she brooded over the amount of tasks Josephine, Leliana, and Cullen had left for her to deal with, finding several to do marks on the map. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Orders, Herald?” Cullen asked.

Lavellan glanced at the three as they looked at her with expectant eyes.

“Yes, alright,” she said, dropping her eyes back down to the map. “Ideally, I want to close the rifts as quickly as possible, but,” she paused pulling out orders she had found on a deceased bandit, “there’s also a mercenary group that wants to extend its reach of which I’d also like to deal with... There are reports of a rift around this location, yes?“

“That is correct, Herald,” Leliana nodded.

“Excellent. Perhaps if we time it right we can get-”

“Two birds with one stone, yes!” Cullen interjected to which Lavellan nodded.

However, that was much easier said than done.  
….  
“Cassandra, down and away!” Lavellan yelled. Without hesitation, Cassandra dropped to the ground and rolled as Lavellan unleashed a massive explosion on a mercenary right behind her comrade. However, there was no time to celebrate as a despair demon fired a crystal her way, causing her to dodge and halting her advance. Shit. This was a lot harder than she had anticipated. Though it helped that the mercenaries were keeping the demons occupied for her to close the rift, it became a bit overwhelming when fighting one off meant fighting two or three others; just had to stay vigilant.

Lavellan struck up a static cage, nabbing as many enemies into its prison while the others weeded them out. Finally! They were so close to closing the rift, she felt it as she lifted the mark and a stream of green energy connected her to it. However, a rogue appeared in front of her, forcing her to break the connection just in time to miss the twin blades that aimed for her neck. The two got into a skirmish, blades working to slice at vital areas and staff being used to block them as Lavellan struck them with lighting. Suddenly, her arms were taken as another mercenary grabbed her from behind, restraining her. Shit. Shit. Shit. The rogue stalked toward her, blades at the ready as she worked to break free. However, just as he got close enough a terror demon erupted from under them. Lavellan and the mercenary holding her fell back, but as she rolled, the momentum and the mercenary’s hold on her caused the buttons on her coat to burst. Quickly on her feet, she went to raise the mark, but winced at a sharp pain spreading down her arm. Running her fingers over the joint, she found her shoulder dislocated. While one mercenary was being ripped apart, the rogue recovered and with no time to put her shoulder back into place by herself, Lavellan quickly looked for other options.

“Cassandra!” She yelled while trying to stop the rogue with shots of lighting.

“A bit busy, Herald.” The seeker called back as she lunged her sword into the stomach of a mercenary.

“I need you!” Lavellan demanded. “Hit my shoulder with your shield!”

“What?!” That made Cassandra stop momentarily before she blocked an oncoming throw from the despair demon.

“Just do it!” It was all Lavellan could come up with since slowly relocating a shoulder on a battlefield was unlikely. So, force would have to do.

Lavellan saw Cassandra face her with her shield at the ready and thus turned her shoulder to Cassandra as she held it in place, bracing herself for impact. If she counted to three, she never finished as one second Lavellan was on her feet and the next on the ground, quickly downing a healing potion to block the obvious pain she would feel later. Cassandra helped her to her feet, but as she stood Lavellan turned the approaching rogue to ash before they could vanish; she fucking hated rogues. Cassandra gave a nod before returning to the fight, leaving the herald to deal with the rift. Solas was closest to her battling with the terror demon at her back while Cassandra and Varric dealt with remaining mercenaries and the despair demon at her front. She quickly raised the mark, making the connection to the rift as it began to close. Yes, almost there… Just a bit more.

“HERALD!” Solas’ voice rang out. Glancing at him, she saw he was looking at her feet. Her eyes dropped down to see frost forming. However, she had no intention of moving as she could feel the rift close and just as it exploded the despair demon’s attack erupted from under her, sending her flying backward. With the position she was in, any chance of preventing herself from slamming headlong into rocks was impossible. Yet, as impact hit her like a train, her head remained untouched. Lavellan felt a pair of hands on her, one cradling her neck and the other wrapped around her waist. She craned her neck to find Solas with a strong hold on her as he had shielded her impact with his own body. They only looked at each other for a moment as both of them were attempting to catch their breaths. His eyes lowered from hers before darting to the side as he all too quickly let go of her.

“Fighting like that may be a hassle.” He pointed out, prompting her to look down as she saw the whole front of her coat ripped open. 

“And yet my focus will remain indomitable,” she said with a breathy chuckle as she got to her feet then reached out to take Solas’ hand to do the same. As he stood she had the chance to regard his appearance to find him in as much a deplorable state as she was; good to know she hadn’t been the only one getting tired.

“Dead!” Cassandra called out. Lavellan turned to what remained of the fight only to find both Cassandra and Varric simultaneously behead, and stick with arrows, the last mercenary. 

Lavellan looked at Solas for a moment. “Thank you, Solas,” she said, holding her shoulder as she felt it ache, only now realizing he had fade stepped while catching her to prevent an untimely death; he nodded in acknowledgment. 

“Shall I look at that for you, Herald?” He asked, gingerly taking her shoulder to which she nodded. Again, a strange moment passed between the two as his long fingers worked on the back of her shoulder, moving her arm with his freehand. Cold sensations erupted throughout her arm, calming any ache or pain she once had. Solas stepped back once he was finished and finding she regained full rotation of her arm without pain was cause, on Lavellan’s part, for a relieved sigh. 

Now, about her coat. She wore a loose cloth under everything to keep her nipples from chafing against her armor, but it left her midriff exposed and walking through the Hinterlands as is was not desirable, especially if they faced off against archers. As Cassandra and Varric approached she ripped off a piece of leather from her coat tail and used it to tie her coat closed; it would have to do for now.

“Pheeeeew,” Varric sighed as he threw Bianca over his shoulder, “Now that is not something I want to do daily. Hell, I’d kiss a ram if it meant not doing that again.” 

Lavellan regarded him for a moment before her eyes moved to Cassandra, Solas, and eventually to herself. Blood, both dried and wet, demon ichor, and mud splattered their bodies and, man, did they look like a total mess. A laugh suddenly overcame her as she shook her head. 

“Why do you laugh?” Cassandra asked.

“What’s so funny?” Varric inquired.

“You know, all I want right now, more than anything, is a bath. Breach be damned,” she said with a tired laugh. Her remark seemed to get universal nods from her company except for a dismayed looked from Cassandra; joking... was not that woman’s forte. Lavellan handed over the remaining potions. “Here, drink the last of these and let’s head back to camp.” 

The trek back was grueling and felt longer than usual. Exhaustion was universal despite having taken the potions to quell their aches and pains. Dodging a bear here, stumbling upon groups of bandits there. Seeing the tent tops in the distance, Lavellan had never once been so overjoyed at the sight of camp just as night had fallen. They were immediately greeted by the requisition officer already wanting to tack on a new assignment. Lavellan said she had intended to listen, but the second the officer turned her back to find the orders, the herald was gone. Lavellan stood at the top of Lake Luthias, setting her clean tunic on one of the boulders as she began to undress.

“I see you had a similar thought,” Solas’ voice reached her ears as she turned to see him waist deep in the water; when had he left the group to come up here? She found her eyes trailing every inch of his torso, leaving her mouth just slightly ajar in amazement at the lean muscle; also the fact he still wore that necklace. Chest as chiseled as his jaw line, stomach tight and toned, and shoulders… she knew they were broad, but hadn’t known they’d been attached to defined arms that she was sure could hold her hard against…

“Herald? Are you alright?” Solas asked, snapping Lavellan out of her… um, observations.

“Ah, yes.” She quickly said turning her gaze to her feet as she reached down to unclasp her leg plating; face just slightly flustered. “Yes, just tired.” She glanced at him, slipping them off. “Sorry, what did you ask me?”

He chuckled. “Forget it. It is not important.” He waded near the water’s edge where boulders jutted out at the top of the waterfall, turning his back to her.

Lavellan undressed, momentarily wondering if he had done that for her modesty. Such a gesture was odd to her as elves, or rather the Dalish, had lived most of their lives with their sense of modesty dust in the wind; that was no secret. Lavellan smiled to herself as she stepped into the shallow parts of the lake before completely submerging herself for a moment. Reemerging, she closed her eyes, feeling the sweet, cool bliss of water completely washing away the day’s grime.

“Aaaaaah, yes.” She said. “This is exactly what I needed.”

Lavellan stood, the water hitting her navel as she waded next to Solas, finding him staring with great intent off into the distance. With a relaxed sigh, she propped her elbows onto a boulder, resting her chin and body against it as she closed her eyes. At this, Solas looked at her out of the corner of his eye as the moon illuminated her skin.

“Tell me, Herald,” he said to which she turned her eyes onto him as he turned his away. “Why Dirthamen?” He was referring to her vallaslin.

Lavellan looked down at the campsite, watching the scouts meander and retire for the night. “Well, should you ask the Keeper of my clan when I chose it, she would say it was because, as the First, I am tasked with all the knowledge of our culture and the secrets of our past.”

Solas’ brows furrowed at her answer, unsure of just what to say until he swallowed the apparent lump in his throat. Lavellan glanced as him to see he was perturbed in some fashion, which prompted her to laugh, catching him a bit off guard.

“I know, I’m doing a piss poor job at it at the moment,” she said with a nod. 

“No, I… That is not what I think,” he said, stammering just a bit before he cleared his throat. “I would like to know what your reason?”

“Hm.” Lavellan said, raising herself from the boulder as the cool air chilled her skin and hardened her nipples. As restrained as Solas thought himself, even he was just a man. Lavellan, like himself, was shaped with definition in her muscle. Her torso was long like many elven women, breasts the shape of dewdrops. He gazed as the water falling down her pale skin glowing like alabaster, off the tips of her… Solas ripped his eyes away, pinching the bridge of his nose; perhaps he had been alone too long to remember restraint was his thought as he attempted to calm his mind. “Because also associated with Dirthamen are unbreakable bonds, familial bonds.” Lavellan finally said. “I have two younger sisters, Inandis and Lanaeya.”

Solas looked at her, briefly forgetting what he had asked until it came back. “So you took Dirthamen as homage to your siblings,” Solas commented.

“Yep,” she said with solidarity moving away from the rocks as she washed the filth that hadn’t sluffed off with her hands. “Is that strange?”

“It is… intriguing.” He said. “Though I’m coming to find you do many strange things. I'm certain I have not met many Dalish like you, Herald.”

Lavellan paused, glancing up at Solas as he stood out of the water to dress. Her breath hitched at the sight of his lower body. For the first time, in a long time, she found her mouth salivating at the sight of one man. As he stood, she would violate him with her eyes all she wanted, it didn't hurt as long as she wasn't touching; no longer did the cold make her nipples hard.

“Herald, are you there?” Cassandra’s voice echoed, but the herald’s attention was drawn elsewhere.

Solas glanced at Lavellan as she stood with a face as stoic as stone, regarding him in such a way that made something stir within him. “I believe Cassandra is calling for you, lethallan.” 

In hearing Cassandra call out once more, Lavellan waded by the rocks to look down at the campsite, seeing Cassandra below. “Yes, Cassandra, I'm here. Come on up.” She called back. Lavellan stepped back, slowly realizing the last thing Solas said, but when she turned her attention to where he was, he was already gone. Lethallan… Lavellan blinked in absent thought as she felt the warmth of her cheeks before scoffing. “Alright… If that is how it will be, lethallin.”


End file.
